The other end of dog ownership from that cute puppy who chews up your furniture, digs up your lawn sprinkler and piddles on your carpet:

My beloved backpacking buddy Hysson died peacefully in my arms this morning after making serious inroads on the vet clinic's dog biscuits. He was in remission from lymphoma for almost 4 months, on prednisone. This is double the average remission time on pred, so I've been doubly blessed--first with 10 1/2 years of unconditional love, and then with an extra two months at the end. He went out of remission over the weekend and I had to make the hard decision before he started suffering seriously. Canine lymphoma is a truly nasty disease to die from, and, for reasons not yet discovered, is quite rampant in Golden Retrievers (Hysson is 1/4 Golden). I wasn't about to let him suffer the effects of that!

Hi Mary,Sorry to hear that, I know how fond you were of Hysson.I cried for weeks when I had to put Pip (my cat) down because of liver failure (18+) a bit more than a year after I had to do the same with her mother Lucy.(21 plus)Like you I did not want to see them suffer.It takes time to get over it. Franco

Oh, Mary, I am so sorry! I've been following along with your mentions of Hysson's progress, and am sad to hear that things went bad over the weekend. Had to smile about your mention of "making serious inroads" into the doggie biscuit supply, though. A friend's dachshund had as his last meal a roll of toilet paper - his very favorite, and normally prohibited - before taking the final trip to the vet's.

When I read your post, I was reminded of something we saw this weekend; our hike took us past Eugene O'Neill's Tao House, and there is a lovely gravesite under an ancient walnut tree for their faithful Dalmation, Blemie. Posted next to it is a signboard with "The Last Will and Testament of Silverdene Emblem O'Neill," as written by Eugene O'Neill, on it:

http://www.eoneill.com/texts/blemie/contents.htm

If you have not read this before, I found it very eloquent and moving.